This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7xc2xa7119 and/or 365 to JP 2001-151832 filed in Japan on May 22, 2001; the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a lightweight bearing in which raceway portions of bearing rings are formed of an iron-based material and other parts are formed of a lightweight material such as aluminum alloy.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In JP-A 2000-186718, this applicant proposed a lightweight cross-roller bearing having composite bearing rings in which bearing ring body members were formed of a light metal alloy and raceway formation members were formed of iron-based material.
A main object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a lightweight bearing that includes composite bearing rings that makes it possible to readily manufacture the composite bearing rings.
To attain the above and other objects, the present invention proposes a method of manufacturing a lightweight bearing in which an outer ring comprises an outer-ring body member and an outer-ring raceway surface formation member that is fixed to an inner peripheral surface of the outer-ring body member and forms a raceway surface on its inner peripheral surface, an inner ring comprises an inner-ring body member and an inner-ring raceway surface formation member that is fixed to an outer peripheral surface of the inner-ring body member and forms a raceway surface on its outer peripheral surface, the outer-ring raceway surface formation member and inner-ring raceway surface formation member are formed of iron-based material and the outer-ring body member and inner-ring body member are formed of a lightweight material that is lighter than the iron-based material, said method comprising manufacturing the outer ring by the following steps: manufacturing first and second outer-ring split body members so that shapes thereof are identical to those obtained by dividing the outer-ring body member transversely along a plane perpendicular to a center axis of the body member, manufacturing first and second outer-ring split raceway surface members so that shapes thereof are identical to those obtained by dividing the outer-ring raceway surface formation member transversely along a plane perpendicular to a center axis of the raceway surface formation member, manufacturing a first outer-ring split member by diffusion-bonding the first outer-ring split raceway surface member to the first outer-ring split body member, manufacturing a second outer-ring split member by diffusion-bonding the second outer-ring split raceway surface member to the second outer-ring split body member, and diffusion-bonding the first and second outer-ring split members.
The above and other objects can also be attained by a method of manufacturing a lightweight bearing in which an outer ring comprises an outer-ring body member and an outer-ring raceway surface formation member that is fixed to an inner peripheral surface of the outer-ring body member and forms a raceway surface on its inner peripheral surface, an inner ring comprises an inner-ring body member and an inner-ring raceway surface formation member that is fixed to an outer peripheral surface of the inner-ring body member and forms a raceway surface on its outer peripheral surface, the outer-ring raceway surface formation member and inner-ring raceway surface formation member are formed of iron-based material and the outer-ring body member and inner-ring body member are formed of a lightweight material that is lighter than the iron-based material, said method comprising manufacturing the inner ring by the following steps: manufacturing first and second inner-ring split body members so that shapes thereof are identical to those obtained by dividing the inner-ring body member transversely along a plane perpendicular to a center axis of the body member, manufacturing first and second inner-ring split raceway surface members so that shapes thereof are identical to those obtained by dividing the inner-ring raceway surface formation member transversely along a plane perpendicular to a center axis of the raceway surface formation member, manufacturing a first inner-ring split member by diffusion-bonding the first inner-ring split raceway surface member to the first inner-ring split body member, manufacturing a second inner-ring split member by diffusion-bonding the second inner-ring split raceway surface member to the second inner-ring split body member, and diffusion-bonding the first and second inner-ring split members.
The lightweight material can be an alloy of a light metal such as aluminum alloy or titanium alloy, or can be plastic, or ceramics.
Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and following detailed description of the invention.